Chaos Magic
by Pineapple Sherbert
Summary: As their sixth year at Hogwarts begins both a new student and teacher are introduced into Harry's life. Could this girl, whose background seems as dark as his own, hold clues to Harry's past?
1. Chapter 1: Rain

Chaos Magic

by Pineapple Sherbert

Chapter 1:Rain

The weather was never exceptionally good the first night of a new year... However, the persistent pound of the thunder and lightening, and the rain which made everyone suspect for the first time ever that Hogwarts might suffer a flood warning was a bit out of the ordinary.

Harry stared up at the enchanted ceiling that mimicked the tempest outside, but unlike the rest of the students he was unperturbed by the weather. He would rather be at Hogwarts, terrible weather and all, then back on Privet drive in beautiful sunshine suffering the Dursleys.

He was brought back to attention with a slight start by a low rumble to his right, jumping slightly he scowled at the offending noise.

"sorry..." Ron grumbled. "But I swear the damn sorting ceremony gets longer every year ... and I haven't eaten since we left home."

"_Honestly_, Ronald" Hermione snapped, "it's not as though you couldn't have bought something on the train, and it's impossible to hear over your stomach." Ron opened his mouth to retort to this and Harry decided he would just rather not listen to them go at it for the eight hundredth time today. They had known each other for six years now, and while he knew their bickering was only masking an underlying affection for each other ... it nonetheless wore him out.

Their fighting finally came to a halt as the sorting finished and the three looked expectantly towards the head table. Harry counted the seats and noticed that an extra one had been added towards the end of the table.

_A new teacher...?_

Having a new Defense against the Dark Arts teacher every year was something the students of Hogwarts had grown used to ... but introducing what looked like a new subject all together...? And whoever it was was not even present at the feast. This was odd... even by the standards of this school. But even when the speeches were over the seat was still empty ... had there maybe been a mistake...? The empty seat was nearly forgotten in leu of the feast, and would have been dismissed entirely if the doors at the back of the hall had not so violently banged open as Harry was halfway into a bite of pumpkin tart.

A silence fell on the entire room as every student turned slowly to face the disturbance.

Standing in the doorway, shilouted for a moment by a flash of lightening was tall man with dark hair and almost cat like green eyes in his late twenties-early thirties. He had a tattoo in a deep navy blue color on the right side of his neck in Celtic knot of protection and he was dressed entirely in black.He was, as most of the female student body was now confirming, very handsome. Next to this man was a girl of roughly Harry's age, greatly smaller then the man next to her. Harry had almost not seen her at first, as she had nearly blended in against the background of the stone and rain. She was small, thin, and pale with hair so light it was basically a light silver. Her dark eyes, slightly too large for her face, were cast down at her feet. She was not dressed in the Hogwarts uniform, but nonetheless appeared to be wearing one of another school with a dark blue jacket and green and blue plaid skirt.

"Ah ... Orpheus, I had thought with the storm you would not arrive until tomorrow at the earliest." Dumbledore said jovially to the dark man. The girl jumped slightly as the man named Orpheus gripped her shoulder.

"We only just got here ... it is difficult to travel by boat in this weather." he said walking towards the front of the room and steering the girl in front of him as well in the process.

Orpheus took the abandoned seat at the end of the table with girl hovering next to it still looking as uncomfortable as the moment she had walked in.

"This is Professor Orpheus Mordred." Dumbledore explained motioning towards the now filled seat."This year we have introduced the new subject of Evocation, of which Professor Mordred is a master. All sixth years, please look forward to this in addition to your other classes this year. Now you may resume the feast." he finished and dropped unceremoniously back into his seat and began attacking his food once more.

Harry, however, was more distracted by the pale girl in the foreign uniform.

"Rathlin Academy" Hermione said, once more bringing Harry back to reality.

"... I'm sorry, What?"

"The girl you're staring at, that uniform is from Rathlin Academy." Harry stared at Hermione like she had just asked him about the migration patterns of the African bees. "_HONESTLY_ Harry, it's the most prestigious all female witching school in Ireland. It was founded by Rowena Ravenclaw's sister in law and if you would ever read Hogwarts: A History you would know that by now" she said with a scowl.

"But what's she doing here then, is THAT in the book?" Ron asked, partially muffled by the tart he had stuffed in his mouth.

"No..." Hermione said bristling slightly. As Harry knew that this would only deteriorate into another pointless squabble he was relieved when the feast was over and they were told to follow their heads of house back to the dorms. But all the same he found he could not help trying to watch the pale girl for as long as possible as he left the room.

* * *

By the next morning the rain was still persisting just as heavily. And aside from the usual antagonism of Professor Snape it had been much like any other normal day at Hogwarts. Harry trailed slightly behind Ron and Hermione as they walked to their next class.

"Let's see, Evocation is next" Hermione said reading off her already fairly well used looking schedule.

"What IS that even?" Ron asked, and promptly silenced himself and held his hands up in the wake of the glare Hermione had shot him as means of a response to his question. They entered the class room and seated themselves, Ron and Hermione in the row in front of Harry, leaving him to sit by himself, wondering only half heartedly why neither of them had even asked to sit next to him. The writing was on the wall about that, as he well knew, they fought a ton, but it was painfully obvious how the two actually felt about each other. He sighed and began rummaging in his bag for a quill and parchment. There was light touch on his shoulder and he jumped slightly.

"I'm sorry ... but was anyone sitting here?" said a quiet voice that was nearly a whisper. Harry glanced up into a pair of large dark eyes and felt his stomach turn over.

The pale girl from the day before was standing over him, now wearing the Hogwarts uniform and the blue and silver colors of Ravenclaw. She brushed her silvery hair away from her face and made a weak attempt to smile, failed, and stood looking expectantly at him.

"N-no ... please..." he said motioning at the chair next to him and watching in awe as she sat next to him. "I'm Harry P-"

"Potter, I know." she said quietly, glancing at this forehead and he could detect the slight Irish lilt in her voice. He opened his mouth to ask her another question when the dark man swept into the room and moved almost like a panther to the front of it.

"I am Professor Mordred, your Evocation teacher ... as you were not informed until yesterday that this class was required of all sixth years I am sure you have not been able to obtain a book, you will be relieved to know that there is no book for this class-" there was collective sigh of relief from nearly all the students with the exception of Hermione who looked dissapointed, and the girl to Harry's right who looked as un-phased as if Professor Mordred had said that it was, in fact, still raining outside.

The rest of the lesson progressed with what could be considered normalcy ... or even tedium. Professor Mordred spent the better part of an hour and half explaining the process evocation, its various forms, and its origins in different countries. Harry spent more time trying to look to his right without looking obvious then actually paying much attention to Mordred at all. The girl to his left however never once took her eyes off of professor Mordred.

"You may all go, I expect you to carefully review your notes as there will be a test on origins and variations at the beginning of next week." Professor Mordred told them as he waved his wand at the black board eraser and enchanted it into cleaning.

The pale girl slowly got to her feet, and looked at Harry with what could almost be a smile.

"I suppose I'll see you tomorrow then Harry Potter." she said.

"Yeah I gu-"

"Miss. Moore?" The girl started slightly and looked up at Professor Mordred who had silently walked over to the pair and was now practically looming behind her. "If you could please stay behind, I would like a word with you apart from your classmates." Her eyes grew even wider for a moment, before nodding wordlessly and giving Harry a small wave as he blinked and then followed Ron and Hermione in exited the class room.

"Did she even SAY anything? How could she possibly have gotten in trouble already?" Ron asked as they were leaving.

"He's probably just concerned about her adapting to a new school, don't you think so Harry?"

Harry was looking behind him. The girl was standing in the middle of the classroom with her back to him still as professor Mordred glided forward and shut the door, Harry could hear the distinct "click" of a lock being pushed into place.

"I don't know... it strikes me as a little odd..." he said under his breath. Trying to shake the feeling that something about this was just a little ... wrong.

* * *

_"What did you think you were DOING?!?!"_

_"I'm sorry..."_

_"You're sorry? You're SORRY???? Why don't you just run up a giant flag outside your bedroom and scream "HERE I AM!!!!!' at the top of your lungs?? Do you have ANY idea what kind of a situation you're in? Do you??? DAMMIT LOOK AT ME WHEN I'M TALKING TO YOU!!"_

Harry put his glasses on and squinted around his bedroom in the Gryfindor tower at the clock. 3 AM.

The voices were coming from what sounded like the Hallway outside the common room. The louder voice was that of an older male, while the quieter one was distinctly female.

_"I said I'm sorry ... I don't know what else to say to yo-"_ the girl's voice was cut off by the sound of flesh hitting flesh as Harry drew closer to the back of the Fat Lady's portrait and pressed his ear against it to better hear the disturbance in the Hall. There was the distinct sound of muffled crying now.

_"You think you can handle this by yourself? You think you can do it?"_

_"I don't know!!!" _the girl sobbed.

_"You're a stupid little girl, do you know that?"_

_"... you're hurting me..."_

_"I'M hurting you? What exactly do you think he's going to do if he finds you? Offer you Lemon drops and hugs and apologize for missing your last eleven birthdays? Is that what you think?"_

_"... I don't know.." _she whimpered more quietly so that Harry had to strain to hear her.

_"Why do I even waste my time with you? Huh? You think you're such a little princess, you aren't worth half the time it takes to keep you from getting yourself killed."_

_"Please don't say that ... I'm sorry, I'm sorry, please don't be mad at me. I won't do it again."_

_"Whatever .. I can't even LOOK at you right now!"_

_"Wait .. please don't go!!!!!!"_ the girl cried after the man's echoing foot steps. Harry heard the quiet sound of something sliding down the wall he was pressed against and then landing with a soft "thump" followed by soft hiccuping sobs.

He waited a few minutes, pondering whether or not it would really be a better idea for him to just go to bed or not before finally squeezing out the portal and into the Hallway.

The Hallway was illuminated by the moonlight, and curled in a patch of it was a girl in a nightgown. Her knees were drawn up to her chest and she was shaking slightly as she sobbed.

"Hey ..." Harry said quietly approaching her. The girl almost faded in the moonlight, he had thought she must have been one of Hogwarts' many ghosts for a moment, before she lifted her head and looked at him with large dark eyes that were now swimming with tears.

"Oh ..." she said in almost a whisper, hastily drawing her hand across her eyes to wipe away her tears. "Should you be out this late Harry Potter? Won't you get in trouble?" Harry ignored both the statement and the fact that she kept using his full name.

"Just call me Harry ... why are you out here ... and why are you crying ... and who was that with you?" He stopped, the girl had actually smiled genuinely this time.

"That ... is a lot of questions Harry." He smiled too, despite himself and ran a hand through his hair, seating himself next to her. He noticed, now sitting next to her, the dark red coloration on her right cheek as well as the fresh cut in the corner of her mouth and remembered the violent noises he had heard along with the verbal argument.

"Hey ..." Harry said again leaning towards the girl who flinched for a moment as he raised his hand " Whoever that was ... did they hurt you...?" She shrugged and dabbed away the small amount of blood that had formed from the gash on her lower lip.

"It's not so bad really... it's my own fault. He was right after all."

"Who was right?"

"It doesn't matter." she said, pulling her knees tight against her chest, then looking skeptically at the boy to her right. "Why are you being so nice to me anyway?" Harry blinked.

"Is there a reason I shouldn't be...?" She smiled for the second time and Harry felt his stomach flip again as she leaned towards him slightly. "So I guess all the things I heard about you are true... you are sweet." she said softly, her hair fell forward and brushed against his arm. He swallowed hard, she really was quite pretty, he was having trouble breathing normally, and she really smelled very good.

"W-who told you that?" He stammered. She laughed a little, and that dropping feeling came back.

"It's a secret" she said getting to her feet. "I don't want to get you in trouble on the first day of a new year Harry, you ought to go back to bed .. I'll see you in Evocations later." she said turning to head towards Ravenclaw.

"WAIT!!" Harry called after her as he scrambled to his feet. "WHAT'S YOUR NAME?"

She turned back for a split second and raised her finger to her lips.

"You'll wake the whole school Harry." she said with a smile, before turning the corridor and dissapearing into the dark of the school.

end ch.1


	2. Chapter 2: Origins and Variations

**Chaos Magic**

**by Pineapple Sherbert**

**Chapter 2: Origins and Variations**

The events and conversations of the previous night still clung to Harry as he set out early to Evocations class ahead of Ron and Hermione. He had not told either of them of his 3 Am conversation in the hallway with the girl who was the same colors as the moonlight.

"Does it hurt..?" Harry froze, hearing the voice of Professor Mordred from inside the Evocations class room.

"I'm fine." came the quiet response of _her_ voice and he forced himself to inch closer to the door way, realizing that anyone who saw him would think he was either ridiculous or up to something.

"Look at me ... I never meant to hurt you, I just ... you know I can't control myself when I'm angry. You know by now not make me angry like that."

"I know..." she said even more quietly, adding "I'm sorry Orpheus, I am ... I ... I wasn't thinking, it was my fault." Harry took a deep breath and managed to come within a few steps of the classroom door. It was open only the smallest crack, but if he pressed his face against it he could see inside.

The silver haired girl was seated on the desk at the front of the classroom, and Professor Mordred was leaning over her with his hand on her cheek and a look that could only be described as affectionate. Harry felt his stomach lurch unpleasantly as Mordred began to lean closer into the girl.

"Orpheus wait I-"

"Hush."

"Your door is open... someone will see..." she whispered.

"You're actually EARLY?!" Hermione's voice caused Harry to jump, and Mordred to pull sharply away from the girl like she had burned him. Harry turned to face Hermione who was flanked closely by Ron, who looked bullied and slightly emasculated, as per usual. _Strange Couple_.

" ... I didn't want to have to sit in the back." he said, realizing just how lame and false the words sounded even as they left his mouth. Hermione eyed him skeptically.

"I see..." she said tersely after a moment. "And I suppose this has nothing to do with Miss Rathlin Academy, does it?"

"... no..." he said miserably, _he_ didn't even believe the way he sounded. Hermione shook her head disdainfully and brushed past him into the classroom with Ron to the seats they had occupied the previous day.

_She_ was already in seated in the desk next to his that she had occupied yesterday. She smiled at Harry as he lowered into the seat next to her. What had been the violent red mark on her cheek early that morning was now a slightly softer, deep eggplant and grey colored bruise. While the cut on her lower lip had begun to heal over.

"You know ... you could go see Madame Pomfrey in the infirmary .. I'm sure she could probably do something about that." Harry told her, trying not to stare at the things marring her otherwise attractive features.  
"Oh..." she said quietly looking at him with interest "... but I don't know where that is."

"I can take you after class if you would like ..." She smiled and he had the distinct feeling of free falling in his abdomen.

"Would you..?" he found himself losing his train of thought in the wake of her smile and the soft scent of her hair again until he was brought back to reality by the sound of chalk snapping on the black board, and when he looked up for a split second he could have sworn that Professor Mordred was giving him the most evil glare he had ever seen before returning to the lesson.

* * *

The stairs had changed positions again. The sudden movement had caused her to fall into Harry, and her fingers clutched his arms almost painfully.

"... why... did it do that?" Her already large eyes slightly wider with fear and surprise.

She smelled like flowers ... citrus... vanilla. Harry's ears were burning, and she was still clinging to him with that look of panic on her face.

"It just does that sometimes" he told her, trying his best to sound reassuring as he helped her upright on her own, before the amount of physical contact could send him into a nervous attack. She looked unconvinced and still slightly uneasy, looking up to the top of the staircase, which now led to an entirely different destination then where they had already been headed.

"But ... aren't we now lost?" she asked him.

"Of course not, I can find my way around this place like the back of my hand!"he assured her as he headed up the stairway.

* * *

It took them nearly two hours to find the hospital wing, despite Harry's confidence, and as a result of which they were nearly late to Care of Magical Creatures.

"You all right there Harry?" Hagrid asked, skeptically viewing the two of them, who were both breathing quite heavily. Especially the girl, who was leaning against Harry for support with a hand pressed against her side.

"Yeah we're fi- oy, are you okay?" Harry looked to his right where was leaning against him and wheezing slightly.

"Just give me a minute." she whispered. Hagrid shook his head and turned back to his students as the girl continued to try and recover from what looked like a borderline asthmatic attack.

"Today I have a special treat for you children!" Hagrid announced, and Harry silently pleaded with God or whoever was listening that it wouldn't be something like Blast-ended Skrewts or Flobberworms again. Hagrid made a whistling noise and there was several small "ooohs" from the girls in the group at what emerged from out of the Dark Forest. "That's right kids! Unicorns!! Most of you kids should be able to touch them, however, they're usually more partial to girls, but if you are an innocent they will sense that and allow you close to them.. right then, don't be shy."

The majority of the girls in the class swarmed towards the unicorns, trailed, much less enthusiastically by the boys. The pale girl, alone, made no attempt to near the beasts. Harry turned back and looked at her hugging her arms close to her chest.

"What's the matter?"

"It's nothing... I just... I... it's nothing" she looked down. Harry frowned.

"Look, it-"

"What's the problem here?" Hagrid's booming voice came from behind Harry. She looked up at him and forced a small smile.

"I... I just don't feel comfortable-"

"NONSENSE!!!" Hagrid bellowed, cutting her off. "For Goodness sake Girl! It's not going to BITE you or anything!!!" Hagrid's large hand seemed practically to swallow her small one as he literally dragged her, despite her her digging her heels into the dirt, up to the beasts. "Now just walk up to 'im and tell 'im 'ello!" Hagrid instructed, giving her a small shove. Any color she had in her face completely drained from it as she stood in front of the unicorn. The beast and her regarded each other, and it was hard to say who looked more nervous. "GO ON THEN!!!" She winced and extended her hand toward the unicorn and took a tentative step forward. The unicorn lowered his head and gave her fingertips a light sniff.

What happened next occurred so quickly that hardly anyone had any time to react. The Unicorn whinnied fiercely and reared up on his hind legs, one of his hooves striking her hard in the left shoulder. She let out a small whimper as she crumpled to her knees clutching her shoulder, which had rather obviously slid out of the socket, and Hagrid hurried forward to calm to the unicorn.

"I'm really sorry, I don't know what's gotten into 'im, he wouldn't hurt a fly!!!"

"This is why I didn't want to get close to it" Harry heard her whisper as he helped her to her feet. But the look with which she was staring at the unicorn was the most depressing one he had ever seen. It was a look of regret.

"Madame Pomfrey is going to wonder how any one person can be so accident prone" Harry joke lamely as he lead her back towards the school to the hospital wing, trying not to notice her fiercely wiping the tears from her eyes that he knew had nothing to do with the pain in her shoulder.

* * *

"How CAN any one person be so accident prone?!?!?!" Madam Pomfrey boomed as the entered the Hospital Wing for the second time that day.

"Sorry Ma'am" she mumbled. Madame Pomfrey gave a heavy sigh and looked at the injured arm.

"Well... I'm going to have to set that back in ... oh goodness... and it looks like whatever did it completely shattered your clavicle ... child what WERE you doing? Anyway... let me go get my things, you have a seat on the bed there... Potter, you can stay here if you like... but so help me don't touch that arm! It looks like it's had enough damage done to it!!!" She shouted over her shoulder as she bustled away.

"You don't have to stay with me you know." she said quietly as she gingerly touched the area where her arm would join into her torso.

"It's all right, I don't mind"

"But won't your friends worry If you-"

"I said it was all right." he said sitting next to her on the bed. She tilted her head at him quiziclly.

"Why _are_ you being so nice to me? Harry ... do you have a _CRUSH_ on me?" she asked her already large eyes getting slightly larger.

"a WHAT?!?!?!" Harry sputtered "How could... I mean... For GOD'S SAKE I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT YOUR NAME IS!!!!!" she laughed, a small musical sound and he got that peculiar dropping feeling in his stomach again.

"Alice" He looked at her startled.

"I'm sorry ... what?" she was looking at him with the same serious expression she had had the night before.

"My name. It's Alice, Alice Moore."

"Alice..."

"Hmm?"

"How... how did you know that the Unicorn was going to do that?"

"Oh... that.." she stared fixedly down at the floor. "Someone like me... I can never get close to something as innocent as that."

"But... why?" She smiled a little, but this smile was full of sadness and regret.

"We all have secrets Harry ... and we all have scars, just... not all of mine are visible, like this one" she said touching the lightening bolt scar on his forehead lightly. Harry felt a shiver run up his spine at her touch and he was reminded again of just how close she was to him, he could feel the heat of her skin filling the inch of space between their arms.

"Alice .. this morning with Professor Mordred ..." Alice's eyes grew wide at the mention of the professor's name.

"All right Potter! Back to your dormitory or whatever else you have to do! Miss Moore is going to be spending the next in here fusing that fractured clavicle back together." Madame Pomfrey boomed, interrupting their conversation, and Harry could help but notice the look of pure relief on Alice's face as Madame Pomfrey shoed him out of the infirmary.

"Well... I'll see you tomorrow then!" he called back over his shoulder as Madame Pomfrey gave him one final shove through the door and slammed it shut behind her.

* * *

"Oh Harry!!! Is Alice all right?" Hermione asked him first thing as he stepped into the Gryfindor common room.

"Madame Pomfrey says she'll be all right, but she has to stay over in the hospital wing tonight to fuse the bones back together ... wait, why did YOU know here name??" he said irritably.

"You mean YOU didn't" Hermione asked, looking completely dumbfounded. "With as interested as you appear to be in her I would have thought you would have _at least_ asked her what her name was! _Honestly_ Harry!"

"I did ... she ... she didn't tell me" he mumbled. Hermione arched an eyebrow at him "But that's besides the point! Why do YOU know it??"

"Oh." Hermione looked surprised "She sits next to me in arithmancy." She said as though it were the most obvious thing in the entire world.

"Blimey Harry, you're going after a _brainy_ girl?" Ron asked skeptically from the arm chair he had flopped in.

"Who cares if she's smart!!" Harry snapped and then looked at the expressions on his friends faces "And who said I was _going_ for her anyway??" he practically shouted, feeling like he was brimming with annoyance.

"Calm down mate..." Ron said startled.

"Whatever, I'm going to bed." he snapped and headed up the stairway.

"Oh Harry come back!!! I wasn't trying to make fun of you girlfriend!!!" Ron called after him, and winced as he heard the door to their room slam at the top of the stairs.

end ch.2


	3. Attention, this is your author speaking

**THIS IS NOT A CHAPTER! IT'S AN EXPLANATION**

**author's note:** this story has recently been archived in a "Mary sue" community, which would not offend me if it were not so malicious. And if the moderator of this community A) would not do such a thing on the mere basis that the story contains an author created character. B) Will not even respond to reason when I sent her a message asking her to explain her reasons for attacking my story, and reasonably tried to explain to her why I felt it was in error, but was more then happy to hear her opinion if she felt differently.

She even defines her, so called "Mary-sue"s as :

**"Mary-Sue is an extreme self-insertion of the author into the OC that she has created. She is perfect. She is beautiful. Everyone loves her or only the girls hate her. There are many sub-categories for Sue. She does not always fit the standard criteria. The only thing she has to fulfill, though, is that she gets what she wants."**

... Now, there is, in fact, and author created character in this story, two in fact. However, the female character in no way is a self-insert. She is not perfect, she is not beautiful, everyone does NOT love her. I have said she is attractive, however, her features are imperfect and somewhat over the top (i.e. her eyes are too large for her face, and she is pale in a way that makes her look like she's sick all the time).She in no way resembles myself, Alice is a meek doormat, she is not all powerful, and physically she's in terrible shape. Everyone does NOT love her, she's the odd one out loner kid that sits at lunch by herself and reads. And, if you actually take the time to READ without criticizing straight off the bat, you will see that she does not, in fact, get everything she wants. I agree there is no fun in a perfect character, but that is not what I have made here, I have made a girl with real, honest to God, problems who goes through life being smacked upside the head by fate and everything else.

If you are going to judge without ever having read, then that is a poor reflection on you, and you should kindly keep that to yourself.

for those of you who have actually been reading this little story of mine, and not just mocking it, Chapter three will be out soon ... really. I'm sorry to anyone who this didn't apply to, please just don't read it then, and don't think that I just wig out about everything. Thank you for your time, and sorry again

Pineapple Sherbert


	4. Chapter 3: Family Portrait

**Chaos Magic**

**by Pineapple Sherbert**

**Chapter 3: Family Portrait**

_**a note from Pineapple: **Thanks everyone for the numerous reviews, private messages, and general support I have received to continue this little piece of fiction. .You have all perked up an otherwise rather distraught little computer geek, and for that I felt the need to say THANK YOU!!!!_

_Also, I find music helps me get in the mood for writing, and maybe, if you have these songs, they will get you in the mood when reading because they subconsciously inspire me .;_

_"Strange little girl" by Tori Amos, "When you were young" by the Killers, "Birthday" or "Blue" by the Birthday Massacre, and "You, my flower" by the Afghan Whigs. Okay... on with the show_

It had been nearly two days since the last time that Harry had seen Alice, and Hermione even reported that she had not seen her in Arithmancy either. He eyed the empty seat next to him in Evocations class gloomily. It was not an entirely interesting subject, and ever since the day when he had taken Alice to the Hospital Wing Professor Mordred had been giving him pointedly evil glares that would have nearly given Snape a run for him money.

"Oi... Harry." Ron whispered over his shoulder when Professor Mordred had his back to the class, explaining a particularly complex chart indicating different types of specters and their regions. "Is it just me or does he ... _hate _you?"

"I don't know why..." Harry mumbled.

"Whatever you did... he looks fit to skin you every time he looks at you. You kno-" Ron was quickly silenced by Hermione smacking him on the shoulder.

"Look you! Don't think for a moment that you can just talk to Harry the whole time and then copy my notes afterwards!" she hissed.

As Evocations ended and the trio got up to leave the classroom Ron looked around.

"Hey Harry ... where's your girl?" Harry looked at his friend's face trying to get some idea as to whether or not he was joking, and to his dismay, realized that he was being serious.

"She's ... not my girl ... and she hasn't been to classes for two days." he said slowly, noticing that Hermione had the same mystified expression on her face that he had. She shook her head and looked composed once more.

"Perhaps the damage she took from the unicorn turned out to be worse then Madame Pomfrey had initially thought?" Hermione said as they headed down the long hallway "Maybe she needed to keep her in the hospital wing longer ... also ... no offense Harry ... but she doesn't appear to be the most healthy person..." she paused for a moment, waiting to see if he would get defensive, when he merely gave her a small sideways glance she continued "so it is possible that she takes longer to heal... so that could also account for her having to stay there longer .. I mean ... you remember when you got to Care of Magical creatures ... you were just a little winded, but Alice looked like she was _dying_ or something."

This was a more valid point then Harry cared to admit. Alice did seem very fragile, even frail, it shouldn't be a huge surprise that she would be as weak as her appearance suggested.

"Harry, look, why don't we just go by the hospital wing and see if she's there. I'm sure she'll be there and then you won't have to worry any longer" Hermione assured him.

They arrived at the hospital wing to see Madame Pomfrey securely locking the infirmary door from the outside, as she turned she caught sight of the three students.

"Ahh, sorry dears but no visitors. I'm afraid for right now at least, that the Hospital wing is closed. Was there something you needed?"

"I wanted to check and see if err... a friend of mine was still there." Harry told her.

"Well you can see your friend tomorrow Mr. Potter, now get back to your classes! shoo!!" she said ushering them away.

"Well ... I suppose there's nothing else you can do until tomorrow then." Hermione said, looking apologetically at her friend. Harry distractedly ran a hand through his messy black hair.

"I suppose..."

Harry, however, had never been one for patience. So he had instead decided to only wait until everyone else had gone to bed, and donning his father's invisibility cloak had slipped out of Gryfindor tower and out into the halls. Hogwarts was cold and silent at this hour, aside from the quiet patter of the still falling rain outside as he made his way in the direction of the hospital wing.

Harry turned a corner and stopped dead in his tracks.

There was a light coming from underneath Professor Mordred's door and he could hear voices as well. Being careful not to make a sound he crept towards the office. Recognizing a familiar female voice, Harry moved stealthily closer and pressed his ear against the door.

"Orpheus I .. I don't think we should do this anymore" he heard Alice say quietly. If Professor Mordred had indeed heard her he said nothing in reply. Harry heard Alice make a small gasp and then say "Orpheus, I'm serious."

"... because of the other night? But I've already apologized for that, and look, they were able to fix your face, you can't even see a trace of bruising anymore."

"... that's not it."

"Then why ...? Oh... I see."

"I'm sorry." Alice said so quietly that Harry was barely able to hear her.

"You're sorry...? You didn't really think that it was be so easy did you?" he hissed "You didn't really think that I would just _let_ you off like that...?"

"That hurts" she whimpered

"Do you honestly think that _he_ can protect you? Is that what you think? Don't you realize that he has enough on his plate without having to worry about saving one stupid little girl too?" Alice made a small cry of pain and Harry felt his hand instinctively grope in the dark for the doorknob with one hand and for his wand with the other.

"What is this?" A woman's voice said behind him, and for a moment Harry froze, and then turned slowly to see Professor McGonagall standing in the hallway, illuminated slightly by the small amount of light seeping from under the crack in the door. Harry relaxed, realizing that he was still under the invisibility cloak, and moved quickly from in front of the door as she approached it and knocked sharply. "Professor Mordred?".

From the room came the hurried sounds of a chair scraping against the floor, as well as what sounded like something metallic clattering to the floor. After a moment or so Professor Mordred responded with a gruff

"come in." As Professor McGonagall entered Harry slipped in after her before the door clicked shut behind him. Professor Mordred was seated in the chair behind his desk, aside from his slightly unkempt hair, he looked otherwise calm. Alice was sitting on top of the desk with her head lowered slightly, gingerly touching her left arm. She looked even more frail then usual in her white nightgown and bare feet.

McGonagall herself seemed very taken aback by the scene.

"What on earth are you doing having Miss. Moore out of her dormitory so late at night?!" Professor Mordred's eyes shot to Alice with what almost looked like a glance of warning before replying slowly.

"Since she had been in the hospital wing for the past few days, she had missed classes, and since she was so worried that she would fall behind, I offered to catch her up on all the material that had been covered."

"At Two in the morning?!" Professor McGonagall almost shrieked incredulously.

"It was the only time we could both arrange to meet." he said unconvincingly.

"Surely you realize how poor this looks, and how damaging this could be to your career her at Hogwarts Professor Mordred?"

"... I understand"

"Very well, this must not happen again! Now if you please I will be escorting Miss. Moore back to the Ravenclaw dormitory." she said, extending her hand to Alice, who looked back at her with what could only be described as obvious gratitude.

Harry backed against the wall to let them pass, and quietly slipped out the door behind them. Professor McGonagall led Alice by her wrist about halfway towards the Ravenclaw dormitory before releasing her and saying.

"Well Miss. Moore, I suspect that you can find your way back from here, as I have other business to attend to I will tell you good night and not to let me catch you out of your dormitory after hours again." She said crisply, before turning on her heel and walking away, leaving Alice standing alone in the corridor.

Walking quietly so as not to alert Professor McGonagall to his presence Harry approached Alice from behind, and slightly lifting the cloak put his hand lightly on her shoulder. He felt a shudder run through her body and she whirled around to face him with a terrified expression on her face and a sharp gasp.

Harry heard Professor McGonagall's footsteps stop rather abruptly down the hall and knew that she had heard as well. Without thinking, Harry grabbed hold of Alice's arm and pulled her close to him, dropping the invisibility to cloak over them both.

Professor McGonagall had returned to their location in the hallway and was peering at where Harry and Alice stood, both of them scarcely daring to breath. Seeing just an empty hallway, she shrugged and headed back the way she had came.

As they stood listening to the receding footsteps Harry became uncomfortably aware of the situation he was now in. That they were completely pressed against each other, that he was still in fact holding her against him and that she was making no effort to get away from him, the way her right hand was resting lightly on his chest, and how her large dark eyes were staring up at him in the moonlight. Her eyes which now seemed so strangely familiar to him, though he could not place where from.

"Harry ..." she whispered, and his heart skipped slightly, hearing her say his name. "what were you doing here?"

"I ..." he could feel his ears burning, and was sure that even in the moonlight it was obvious how deep a shade of red he was now turning "I came looking for you... I was heading to the hospital wing, but then I heard you and Professor Mordred talking in his office and-" She tilted her head questioningly.

"but why...?"

"I was worried about you!" he blurted out, and seeing her eyes widen in surprise he felt himself getting even more embarrassed about the situation " I mean... you'd missed class for two days, and the last time I saw you the unicorn had hurt you pretty badly.." looking down at her he could see that there were still dark bruises along her collarbone, though she looked to be otherwise healed. Although, on closer look, he could see that there were bruises also along what was exposed of her arms. Noting her complete silence he stopped scrutinizing her injuries and returned his glance to her face, his stomach gave another of the sharp lurching sensations that he was becoming rather accustomed to since he had met her.

She still had the look of mild surprise, but there was something else as well, something Harry couldn't figure out exactly, but whatever it was was causing his heart to race.

"Harry ..." she whispered. "I..." They both froze at the sound of footsteps, as they looked to see Professor Dumbledore turn the corner down the hallway and walk towards them. Looking directly at the two of them, despite the cloak, he smiled and said.

"Good evening Harry, Alice. Being as you both have class in the morning, would it not be prudent for you two to be off to bed now?"

The two teenagers stared at him with matching looks of terror on their faces before nodding and hurrying away in separate directions.

Harry had only managed roughly four or so hours of sleep by the time he was woken up by Ron and informed that it was time to go down to breakfast.

It was raining again.

He trailed lethargically after his friend, and yawned, rather loudly, as they seated themselves at the Gryfindor table. Hermione was already there, pouring over her copy of the Daily Prophet with a concerned look on her face.

"What's terrible in the world _today_ Hermione?" Ron asked her sounding bored. The brunette girl, for once ignoring his sarcasm, spread the paper out on the table in front of the two boys.

On the front page in large letters were the words: **NOTORIOUS DEATH EATER ESCAPES AZKABAN PRISON**. Underneath the headline a man with a menacing stare glared up at them, occasionally fussing with the shackles on his wrists. Picking the paper back up Hermione began to read aloud:

"Late last night a major security breach occurred at Azkaban prison. Without the heightened guard of the Dementors to patrol the prison, one of the most feared and powerful supporters of He-who-must-not-be-named was able to escape last night.Donovan Valdis had been imprisoned in Azkaban for the past twelve years. Known to have been associated with some of the most heinous of the Death Eater's crimes, he had managed to evade authorities for longer then many of the Death Eaters who were arrested shortly after He-who-must-not-be-named's fall from power. Valdis was not apprehended until nearly four years after this, he was found shortly after murdering his wife Caitrin Moore, and torturing their four year old daughter who had vanished by the time the Ministry of magic had arrived, and is still considered missing to this day as her whereabouts were never confirmed. Alth-"

Hermione was interrupted by Harry violently bolting to his feet. Both her and Ron looked at him in shock.

"Moore..." he whispered, and then his eyes grew wide as though it finally made sense to him "Alice!" he exclaimed, and scrambled away from the bench and ran from the dining hall, as Hermione and Ron both yelled

"HARRY WAIT! COME BACK!!!" after him.

He was running through the school and he couldn't think straight. The only thought he could think coherently was that he had to find her. She hadn't been in the dining hall ... where was she? And what did all this mean? And did this have something to do with what he had heard Professor Mordred saying to her?

He reached the courtyard slightly out of breath and saw Alice standing in the middle of the pouring rain, with her face tilted up to the sky. He approached her quickly, his mind racing, he gripped her shoulder and turned her to face him.

"Alice ... the paper it said... Valdis Donovan .. is he..." she looked up at him, there was a look of sheer horror in her eyes, and she was trembling violently, he knew that it wasn't just because of the cold rain. "Alice, is he your father?"

"Harry ..." it was almost a whimper. "He's going to find me Harry, I knew this would happen, he's going to come looking for me." she was starting to cry, and without thinking he put his arms around her and pulled her towards him. Alice buried her face against his chest and clung to him, she was shaking harder now as she cried against him. "What am I going to do?? He's going to find me ..I can't stop him, he's too powerful...what am I going to do?"

Her voice was getting slightly high pitched and hysterical sounding. She was soft and warm against him, and he didn't want her to cry or be scared anymore, he wanted to somehow make everything be all right again.

"Alice..." he said quietly, she looked up at him, her large dark eyes full of tears. "Alice, I'll protect you" he told her.

She had stopped crying, but she was still clinging to him, and looking at him with that expression she had had the night before, before Dumbledore had come along. She was still trembling, and her voice shook slightly as she spoke.

"Harry I ... I really like you."

Her scent was washing over him again, and he couldn't help but think how pretty she was in the rain, that was almost the same colors that she was. And without thinking he lowered his face down to hers as she simultaneously entwined her arms around his neck. And as his mouth closed over hers he forgot that it was raining, and instead lost himself in the smell of citrus and vanilla, and the lips of the girl who was the colors of rain and moonlight.

end ch.3


	5. Chapter 4: Overlap

**Chaos Magic**

**by**** Pineapple ****Sherbert**

**Chapter 4: ****Overlap**

****

* * *

**_first a small note from Pineapple:_** _Okay, I'm sure that you are all aware that it has taken quite sometime for me to turn out the next chapter, and for those of you who have been following this little story of mine I'd like to apologize for the wait. Between living overseas for a semester, and then returning home, and moving, and transferring to a new school I didn't have much down time to devote to this. But hopefully now that things have settled down a bit I will be able to plug along at this just a little bit better. Thanks again to all of you who have stuck with me on it._

* * *

As the seasons began to change at Hogwarts the school buzzed with rumors about the alleged escape of a known death eater, his connection to Alice Moore, and furthermore, her connection to Harry Potter.

Any popularity Alice seemed to have gained during the three months she had been at Hogwarts transformed from fascination and awe to a mixture of apprehension and even in some cases contempt.

Quite similarly to the escape of Sirius Black day by day more owls began to appear bearing letters from worried parents convinced that their child would be in a sort of danger attending school with someone who was obviously being targeted by an escaped convict.

Regardless of Dumbledore and the other faculties assurances that Hogwarts was one of the safest places for their children to be in a state of crisis, the tension continued to grow. Along with the parent's concern, many students avoided Alice in the hallways and classrooms with looks of fear on their faces, and others, namely of the female student body, intentionally knocked against her in passing, causing her to drop her books or slam against the stone walls of the corridor, casting malicious glances over their shoulders over her in their wake.

In addition to the news of Valdis Donovan's escape from Azkaban prison the news of Harry Potter having been seen kissing Alice Moore in the courtyard had spread through the school like wildfire. Due to Harry's rather great popularity with the female students of Hogwarts she became a sort of target for aggression for them, the rumors were not at all helped by her recent disappearance from Evocations class. The weight of her absence was not a feeling that was lost on Harry in the least, though he was able to see her outside of classes, the majority of his day was consumed with school and Quidditch practice, and being in different houses there was virtually no overlap in their schedules.

Harry sat mulling this fact over in his head one day in Evocation about three weeks after his kiss with Alice in the courtyard. He lost himself in thought to the point that he did not even realize that the class had ended until a show fell across his desk and he heard a sharp hiss of

"Potter…."

Harry looked up to see Professor Mordred hovering over him with a look of undiluted hatred. Orpheus Mordred was, in fact, a very intimidating man. It was one of the things that added to why the female students found him so attractive, but he was nonetheless very imposing between his height, visible tattoos and his incredibly feline eyes that gave him a look of a predator observing his victim, to be fixed with his glare would make even some of the most steel hearted individuals uneasy.

Needless to say, Harry felt more then mildly intimidated as he looked up at this man.

"Yes Professor?"

"Tell me Potter…" Mordred said leaning forward onto Harry's desk "How much do you know about Valdis Donovan." Harry started a bit.

"Pardon me…?"

"oh, surely you've heard of him, I find it hard to believe that with as …. Ah… close… as you are with Ali- … Miss Moore, that you would know nothing about Donovan Valdis."

"It hasn't really come up…" Harry stammered. The dark haired man leaned in closer, narrowing his cat-like eyes.

"I have heard of you in great depth Mr. Potter, how you are constantly managing to avoid death. This is impressive, I am not sure whether it is through any honest skill on your part or if you are just one of those people naturally endowed with what they call 'dumb luck'" Mordred was now a manner of mere inches from Harry as he hissed. "But I don't think you realize what you are getting yourself into Potter. Did she ever tell you how Valdis killed her mother? Made the exploits of most of the other Death Eaters look like children's tales the things he did to her mother and to her as well…Oh… didn't she tell you?" He had noted the uncomprehending look of surprise on Harry's face. "You should really get out before you are in too deep Potter. You are no match for Valdis, of that I can assure you. Is she really worth it Potter? Do you honestly think you can save her?"

"ORPHEUS!!" Mordred and Harry both turned simultaneously to see Alice standing in the doorway. Her already large eyes were wide with what appeared to be a mixture of shock and fear. "Don't… please don't say anything else." Mordred had temporarily frozen with an inscrutable expression on his face, now he took a step towards her.

"Alice…" She quickly stepped backwards in order to compensate for his attempt at closeness.

"Don't tell him…" she whispered. "I beg you, please don't tell him"

"Do you really think you can do this alone? Are you honestly foolish enough to believe that you honestly foolish enough to believe that you can take care of yourself?" Mordred had managed to bridge the gap between him and Alice in a few strides and had grabbed her hard by her shoulders.

"Stop it…" Alice said in almost a whimper.

"It isn't so easy you know. You don't stand a chance against Valdis and this … _boy_.." Mordred said jerking his head towards Harry, who had awkwardly clambered to his feet and was standing uncomfortably, arms hanging loosely at his sides, unsure what to do in the current situation. "… this boy can barely take care of himself. You _need_ me Alice."

"No!" She was shaking her head and starting to cry. "stop it, just stop it"

He grabbed her chin in his hand and jerked her face up to look at him.

"Should I just leave you to die Alice? To die like your poor mother? Then would you be happy?"

"expelliarmus" she said, in almost a whisper, but it was enough to knock the older man off of her, and the moment she was free she turned and scrambled from the classroom. Her use of the charm seemed to work doubly to awaken Harry from the stupor he had stood watching the scene in, and brushing past the fallen teacher he ran out of the classroom as well, calling after the pale girl.

* * *

Harry finally caught up to Alice near the dining hall. Though she was not crying her face had a look of terrible unhappiness to it.

"Alice…" he said quietly and she slowly looked up at him, forcing a small smile.

"I'm all right Harry." She told him, brushing her hair away from her face. "I am … really… sorry that I overreacted back there, you must think I'm really strange now."

"Alice" he said again, taking a deep breath and moving closer to the pale girl. "What _is_ going on between you and Professor Mordred. And all this that is going on with your father escaping … you can tell me you know, I want to help." Alice shook her head violently.

"Harry, please, let's not talk about this."

"I mean it! You can tell me! What's going on here?"

"NO!" she almost shrieked taking a step back from him. Seeing the expression on his face, she swallowed hard. "I'm sorry…" she said in almost a whisper "I really am Harry I just … I can't talk about this…" she told him hanging her head. "I just can't … not right now."

He was confused, clearly, and on the brink of irritation with Alice's continued secrecy. However, looking at her now with such a miserable expression on her face, he steeled himself and let the irritation pass.

"It's just that I care about you, you know?" He told her, reaching a hand out to touch her hair.

"I know." She whispered, her eyes fixed on her shoes.

"Hey … look at me." Alice shook her head again. "Alice… please…" Finally she raised her dark eyes to meet with his green ones and he kissed her softly. "How about we go somewhere for the rest of the day, all right? Just you and me, get away from this all for a little while." She looked at him skeptically.

"Like where?"

"Just go get changed and meet me back here, all right?" Though she still looked doubtful about what he had planned she nodded and headed toward the Ravenclaw dormitories.

* * *

Winter was fast approaching at Hogwarts, so both teenagers were tightly bundled in sweaters and scarves as the set out into Hogsmeade. Once away from school Alice's mood appeared to brighten considerably, and about an hour into the venture she managed to smile and actually laugh a few times.

After getting an early dinner at one of the small cafes they walked leisurely through the streets. It was Alice's first time in Hogsmeade and she peered into the shop windows with an almost childlike curiosity that Harry couldn't help but find endearing.

"It'll start snowing soon" Alice remarked as they stood in front of a window that displayed a wide variety of scarves, caps, and sweaters in a large assortment of colors and sizes.

"Yeah, I suppose so."

"Will you be going home for Christmas then?"

"I usually spend Christmas here at Hogwarts, unless Ron's family invites me over, I don't really have any other family but the Weasley's to see during the holidays. What about you Alice? You'll probably leaving soon for the Christmas vacation won't you?"

"No." she said simply, without looking up.

"No?" Alice sighed quietly and then looked back at Harry with a particularly strained looking smile.

"I haven't really got a family to return to either you see…." She told him "After my mother's death I went to live with my Aunt Bronwyn. She lives in a small village on the outskirts of Dublin, in many parts of Ireland Celtic mysticism is still fairly strong, since the Moore's are descended from an ancient coven of Celtic witches my aunt actually lives near the muggles and makes her money selling charms and talismans to them. Unfortunately Aunt Bronwyn and I were never close." Harry raised an eyebrow at this, thinking of himself and the Dursleys. But Alice made a small dismissive motion with her hand and continued.

"Please don't get the wrong idea, she was never unkind to me. She gave me a place to eat, and to sleep, and it was mostly because of her that I was able to get into Rathlin Academy. The thing is… she would always tell me how much I reminded her of my mother, her sister. They were very close sisters, and I guess being near me always made her sad. So I did my best to help out, and at the same time keep my distance…. So it was actually probably for the best when I went away to school and she didn't need to see me so frequently anymore."

Alice smiled, but it was an incredibly sad smile. "Besides, with the prison outbreak she has gone into hiding, and Dumbledore tells me that Hogwarts is the safest place for me to be while that man is at large."

"Alice…." Harry stared at her, not entirely sure what he should say to this new disclosure of information. She had quickly forced another of her falsely cheerful smiles onto her face before a response was needed.

"So then it looks like we will both be here for the Holidays then… What would you like for Christmas, Harry?"

"Alice, you really don't have to-"

"No, I want to, besides, Aunt Bronwyn _did_ provide me spending money, and I'd like to get you something."

Harry frowned, even since he had become friends with Ron and Hermione, and practically been adopted into the Weasley family, the practice of him actually _receiving_ gifts for holidays and his birthday was still fairly foreign to him. Naturally, he had no idea what to ask for.

His though process, however, was interrupted by a voice behind them.

"Alice Moore …. You look even more like your mother every time I see you." Harry was startled by the familiar sounding voice as the two of them turned to face the speaker.

"Reemus!" Alice exclaimed, genuinely smiling an standing up on the tips of her toes to hug the former professor. Harry was startled… how could these two possibly know each other?

"It's good to see you little Alice. Let me look at you." Lupin backed away to arms length to appraise her. "My goodness, but you're almost an exact replica of Caitrin when she was your age." This seemed to please Alice, Harry himself still felt incredibly confused. Lupin reached into the bag he had been carrying and pulled out a photograph and a small glass bottle. "Here…" he said "Sirius had been wanting to give these to you the next time that he saw you." He said handing them to her. Alice frowned a little looking down at the objects.

"Then why doesn't he give these to me? Reemus, he's not with you?" Harry and Lupin both exchanged a look. He could still distinctly remember the death of his Godfather, it was something that still haunted his dreams at night.

"Alice…" Lupin said slowly. "Sirius… Sirius is dead… you didn't know?"

Harry looked at the expression on her face. It mirrored how he had felt when he had watched Sirius die in front of him. But why? How could Alice possibly be connected not only to Lupin, but to Sirius as well?

With a bit of discomfort, Harry began to analyze just how little he actually knew about her. He looked at Alice, scrutinizing her unhappy expression, he felt his attracted to the photograph she was tightly clutching in her hands.

Harry had to fight the gasp he almost emitted at the sight of it.

It was an old photograph, but he was nonetheless able to clearly recognize the location as the field surrounding the shrieking shack. In the photograph were two couples seated beneath a tree, smiling happily up at him and waving. He immediately recognized the one couple as his parents, a young Lily Evans and James Potter in Gryffindor uniforms. James had his arm around Lily's shoulders and she was leaning against him and beaming at the photographer. Beside them stretched out on his back was a handsome, dark haired young man, that Harry recognized as a young Sirius Black. Sirius' head rested on the lap of a girl about the same age as the other people in the picture, the girl was laughing at something that Sirius was saying to her and looking down at him with an expression of pure adoration that was clearly mirrored in the way he was looking back up at her.

She wore a Ravenclaw uniform, and despite the fact that her pale silvery hair was cut to just above her shoulders in the feathered fashion of the time, and that her large eyes were a startlingly clear blue color, there was no denying that the girl in the picture could practically have been Alice's twin sister.

"Alice … wait… how do you…?" She looked up at him, and he saw that her eyes were brimming with tears. Lupin placed a reassuring hand on the small girl's arm and she looked up at him.

"Alice, dear, would you mind giving me a moment alone with Mr. Potter, there are a few things I need to talk to him about too." She frowned looking between the two men, and then nodded and set off down the street, clutching her new possessions tightly to her chest.

"I took that picture of them our last year at Hogwarts." Lupin said wistfully, watching Alice walk away, and then fixing Harry with his gaze. "I can't say I ever expected you to be involved with Alice Moore Harry, although I suppose that in some ways you and Sirius truly are similar."

"What are you talking about?!" Harry exclaimed. "What is going on? What was that picture all about? How do you know her? How can she be involved in this? And why didn't Sirius tell me about any of this."

Lupin rubbed his forehead and let out a heavy sigh.

"It's complicated Harry … I don't feel I should disclose all the details to you, because I believe that Alice herself should tell you the majority of the story when she is ready. I don't want to betray her trust if there are things that she would rather were kept hidden. But I will tell you this, Caitrin Moore, Alice's mother, we all knew her. She was a beautiful woman. She was always at the top of her classes, she was talented, charismatic, and needless to say, incredibly popular. She had plenty of admirers, and tons of friends including you mother. You see … Caitrin was … well… everybody loved her." Lupin smiled at Harry, perhaps even a little sadly. "But Caitrin, you see, she had only had eyes for Sirius and no one else. And even though your Godfather had quite the reputation as a playboy, that all ended the day you met her. You see Harry … for Sirius… Caitrin was the love of his life."

Harry stood, stunned. Not only by the fact that it seemed the similarities between Alice and her mother ended abruptly with their appearances, but also with this new insight into his deceased Godfather's life.

"But wait… why didn't he..?"

"Tell you about her?" Lupin asked with a patient smile. "You must understand Harry, the day Sirius learned of Caitrin's death while he was locked inside Azkaban was one of the worst of his life. Even after she had been taken away from him by Valdis Donovan he still kept in touch with her, secretly, until he was arrested. After she died… Sirius never spoke of Caitrin to anyone, not even me."

Harry looked up the road to where Alice was standing looking into a window housing formal gowns with an utterly morose expression on her face, and he couldn't help but feel that he had somehow become closer to her, if for no other reason than their overlapping pasts.


End file.
